P.072 Agreement between children and their parents’ ratings of the health-related quality of life of children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Background: When measuring young Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL), parent-proxy reports are heavily relied on. Therefore, it is imperative that the relationship between parent-proxy and child self-report HRQoL is understood. This study examined the level of agreement between children and their parent-proxy rating of the child’s HRQoL. Methods: We used FOR-DMD clinical trial baseline data. HRQoL, measured using the PedsQL inventory, was reported by 178 parent and child (ages 4 to 7 years) dyads. Intracorrelation coefficients (ICC) measured absolute agreement while paired t-tests determined differences in the average HRQoL ratings between groups. Results: The level of agreement between child and parent-proxy ratings of HRQoL was poor for the generic PedsQL scale (ICC: 0.29) and its subscales; and, similarly low for the neuromuscular disease module (ICC:0.16). On average, parents rated their child’s HRQoL as poorer than the children rated themselves in all scales except for psychosocial and school functioning. Conclusions: Child and parent-proxy HRQoL ratings are discordant in this study sample, as occurs in other chronic pediatric diseases. This should be taken into account when interpreting clinical and research HRQoL findings in this population. Future studies should examine reasons for parents’ perception of poorer HRQoL than that reported by their children.